Downloading/managing logs wirelessly (e.g. via telemetry)?

Is there a way for me to fetch and/or manage the logs (from the SD card) wirelessly, e.g. through the telemetry link? I am about to encase the flight controller into a larger body/canopy that will make it difficult for me to access the USB and/or pul the SD card out every time I want to inspect the logs. It would be amazing to be able to do all of this wirelessly without having to take the MAV apart. Doable?

An ESP8266 Wifi module will work. Very slow but it will get the job done.

Are you referring to an ESP8266 module set up for telemetry, as documented here?
ESP8266 wifi telemetry — Copter documentation (ardupilot.org)

I get MAVlink telemetry via a 915MHz mRo radio. Aside from the fact that WiFi would be marginally faster, is there something inherently special about ESP8266 that allows for wireless log access?

Digging into the mavlink docs, it looks like MAVlink supports a bunch of LOG_* messages, such as:
LOG_REQUEST_LIST
LOG_ENTRY
LOG_REQUEST_DATA
LOG_DATA
LOG_ERASE
LOG_REQUEST_END

Are these what you had in mind? Is there a way from MissionPlanner to obtain the flight logs through the telemetry link, presumably using the above? (so I don’t have to implement my own… sigh)

Thanks.

Yes - it should work as standard but just e very slow.
You can use the existing telemetry radios.
I’ve got old 3DR 433 radios that I’ve set to 115kbaud (like USB speeds) and they work OK, but I havent range-tested them at all, only bench testing.
The RFD900X and UX radios do these high data rates over long range and are what we use outside the house :slight_smile:

Ensure your radios have the latest firmware version then you should be able to adjust these settings on both air and ground radios.
Use the Sik radio section in MissionPlanner.

Air 200
Baud 115
Max Window 80

and adjust the ardupilot params to suit your serial port that is connected to the telem radio
SERIAL1_BAUD,115
SERIAL1_OPTIONS,0
SERIAL1_PROTOCOL,2

and in MissionPlanner you need to select the high baud rate in the “Connect” section
image

Also it might be wise to set up a USB port that can be accessed while the cover is on, for firmware updates and similar, or access to the FC when you dont want to connect a battery.

OK. How do I get the logs from the SD card using the existing telemetry link?
Maybe using the “Download DataFlash Logs via MavLink” button? Is that going to fetch the logs from the SD card?

Yes - that’s it. It can be very slow with default settings but it should work.

Changing to the much higher baud rate is optional, and be prepared to connect individual radios direct to your computer USB port for resolving any issues.

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Great! Thanks for the help.

VERY slow. On one of my Rovers I have a Sik Radio and a WiFi radio for that reason… The Wifi Radios are ~$3.

Yeah. The cost is not a problem though… The availability of ports on my FC is the big problem. I have one TLM port available, and that’s allocated to the mRo radio which has a longer range than wifi radios. If wifi radios had decent range, I would ditch all sik-style radios in a millisecond.

Or get the RFD radios and have the best of both worlds. Not cheap though.